“June is a love song written by nature.” -Patience Strong (1907-1990), English Poet

It is of no use to act as if forgiveness were easy. I have forgiven many times over. I 

forgive an offense and then a reminder occurs and the resentment blooms anew as if nothing had been pardoned. -note from my personal journal

In July 1963, near the end of his life, C.S. Lewis wrote to a lady in Washington, DC who was in a situation where, as Lewis put, she faced “as difficult a job in the forgiving line as can well be imagined.” Lewis recounted a very personal story about his own efforts at forgiving someone who had done him great wrong:

“Do you know, only a few weeks ago I realised suddenly that I at last had forgiven the cruel schoolmaster who so darkened my childhood. I’d been trying to do it for years: and like you, each time I thought I’d done it, I found, after a week or so it all had to be attempted over again. But this time I feel sure it is the real thing. And (like learning to swim or to ride a bicycle) the moment it does happen it seems so easy and you wonder why on earth you didn’t do it years ago. So the parable of the unjust judge comes true, and what has been vainly asked for years can suddenly be granted. I also get a quite new feeling about ‘If you forgive you will be forgiven.’ I don’t believe it is, as it sounds, a bargain. The forgiving and the being forgiven are really the [very] same thing. But one is safe as long as one keeps on trying.”- C.S. Lewis, Collected Letters, vol. III, Narnia, Cambridge and Joy, 1950-1963, edited by Walter Hooper,  (HarperCollins London, 2006), p. 1438.

“At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”

Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven”. -Matthew 18:21-22

God knows every excuse for bitterness. He knows each side of the story: offender and offended, and hears every  “as we forgive those who trespass against us” prayed. Forgiveness is not a bargain, penned Lewis to his friend. Shall we stop negotiating and ‘keep on trying’? 

Prayer: 

Heavenly Father, I purpose to live a life of forgiveness because You have forgiven me. With the help of the Holy Spirit I make every effort to live in peace with all men so others may see You. Amen